Passion for Everything

On this Spot, we have Sadhguru’s refreshingly personal responses to a volley of “rapid fire” questions launched by Karan Johar during the recent “In Conversation with the Mystic” in Mumbai. Our slideshow represents the flurry of events Sadhguru was part of in the last few days.

Karan Johar: I’m going to take the liberty, Sadhguru, to do what I normally do on my television show, which is a rapid fire round.

Sadhguru: When I was young, I watched a lot of Wild West movies. So when you fire, I also fire – all right? [Applause & laughter]

Karan Johar: No, I promise you this is not that kind… You are not in my line of fire at all. I will not take the liberty of being that person. These are just quick questions which, when I ask for one word, you have to stick to that. Because sometimes, you have a tendency of not exactly answering the question asked. But you give such a profound and prolific retort back that it makes you very satiated. But in this case, my only request is that if it’s one word, then it’s just one word.

Sadhguru: [Laughs] Okay.

Karan Johar: All right, very simply, what is the one thing that is essential to living a balanced life?

Sadhguru: Sense.

Karan Johar: What is the one thing we must absolutely do away with in order to lead a balanced life?

Sadhguru: Senselessness.

Karan Johar: All right. I thought that was coming. First thing that comes to your mind when I say the following. Organized religion.

Sadhguru: Madness.

Karan Johar: Marriage.

Sadhguru: Cohabitation.

Karan Johar: Competition.

Sadhguru: Stupid.

Karan Johar: Money.

Sadhguru: Useful.

Karan Johar: Love.

Sadhguru: Can I say a sentence? [Laughter & applause]

Karan Johar: Yes. I will allow that. [Laughs]

Sadhguru: Most beautiful, but unfortunately crippling for most people. If I can elaborate a little on that – see, if something unpleasant cripples you, something nasty cripples you, it’s acceptable. When something beautiful cripples you, it’s a true disaster.

Karan Johar: If you could ask one person – alive or dead – one question, who would you ask, and what would that be?

Sadhguru: I really sorted out all my questions, because I did not spend time educating myself or doing anything else – I spent my entire life sorting out every damn question I had. I’ve kind of run out of questions. [Applause]

Karan Johar: And you certainly have not run out of any answers, and you never will. Best advice you have ever received?

Sadhguru: Nothing.

Karan Johar: Never?

Sadhguru: No. I never sought, nor did I receive advice. I made myself in such a way I’m incapable of seeking advice or giving advice. [Applause]

Karan Johar: In an imaginary, completely hypothetical situation, if you had a day off with no commitments, no responsibilities, what would you spend the day doing?

Sadhguru: Oh! There’re a lot of things, this can’t be one word.

Karan Johar: [Laughs] No, it’s not one word.

Sadhguru: See, I have an indiscriminate sense of passion towards everything. There were lots and lots of things that I did at one time; but these days, time is not allowing me to do that. So generally, if I have a little time, all I do is play golf. Because that’s within the city, and I can get back in time for something else to be done. But if an entire day is left to me, which they have not done for a long time – if that happens, I will close my eyes and sit, because I am at my best when I truly have nothing to do. [Applause]

Karan Johar: What is one thing you’d like people to remember about you at the end of your life?

Sadhguru: They must live so wonderfully that they don’t even remember me.

Karan Johar: If you found a way to travel through time, where would you go?

Sadhguru: I’m kind of done with all those things. [Laughter & applause]

Karan Johar: You’ve visited the whole universe already. You have visas for every part of this ecosystem.

Sadhguru: If we can do some slow fire...

Karan Johar: Yeah.

Sadhguru: ...because that’s a question with many ramifications. […] Your ideas of time and space are essentially because you’re living within the framework of your intellect. If you cross that dimension, then there is no such thing as time and space. Everything is here and now. […] So, travelling through time and space – no; it means nothing to me. […]

Karan Johar: What is the first thing you notice when you meet a person?

Sadhguru: Just everything.

Karan Johar: Everything?

Sadhguru: Everything – past, present, and future.

Karan Johar: Is it more important to do what you love, or love what you’re doing?

Sadhguru: One word or more?

Karan Johar: The choice is entirely yours.

Sadhguru: If you are an intelligent person, you will try to do what you love most. But if you’re a genius, you will do just what is needed.

Karan Johar: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

Sadhguru: You wouldn’t know. [Laughter & applause]

Karan Johar: With due respect, what is your biggest weakness?

Sadhguru: See, what normally people treat as weakness in their lives... Okay, let me give a normal answer. […] My biggest weakness is I love danger. Without danger, I cannot live. I need to do something which keeps me on the edge of being mortal. Being alive and dead – I want to walk that line all the time. Every day, I’m stepping on it, one way or the other. Is it a weakness? I don’t think so, but people think so. “Sadhguru, you shouldn’t risk your life like this.” But if there’s no risk, I feel I’m not being tested. Most of the time in my life, for whatever I’m doing, I don’t feel tested. It’s only in moments of danger that I feel a little tested.

So, my weakness is I like to be stretched. All the time when I was riding across India on my motorbike and later on when I started driving, my only wish was to find a machine which will test my skills. Always found the damn things broke down if I took them to my limits. These days, recently, I’m beginning to get to do a few machines which are testing me, whether I can push it all the way or not. Maybe that’s because of my age. If I had met them much younger, I think I would have managed to... [Laughs]

Karan Johar: Work around them. One thing the world doesn’t know about you?

Karan Johar: Desperately in need of… [Sadhguru laughs] Sir, what would you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Sadhguru: I don’t think there’s any, because I always fall woefully short of my own expectations of what I could do, so I never feel anything is an achievement.

Karan Johar: Is there a song you love and can listen to all the time?

Sadhguru: Probably because this came to me at a certain time, when I was in my early teens maybe, this one song kind of comes back to me more often than anything else. It’s not that I even seek it but somehow, one way or the other, this song keeps coming back to me – “How many times....” [“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan]

Karan Johar: Okay. I know you haven’t seen any of my films, but do you have a favorite film?

Sadhguru: Oh! I’ve seen many good movies; at one time, I saw a lot of them. I’ve not seen much of Indian cinema, but I saw a lot of English cinema. But one movie that I thoroughly enjoyed at that time because of the way things happened on that day, many life situations fell together and everything, was Roman Holiday.

Karan Johar: Oh! Well, I have to say that that’s the first film I’ve ever seen in my life – my mother took me to the cinema.

Sadhguru: [Laughs] Here we are!

Karan Johar: It is true – Roman Holiday is the first film I ever saw. It was my introduction to the big screen. I’m glad I have something in common with you.

Sadhguru: That image of Audrey and Gregory Peck somehow just stayed with me.

Karan Johar: Wonderful.

Sadhguru: It was probably my age. [Both laugh]

Karan Johar: It must have been. Something you enjoy doing and wish you had more time for?

Sadhguru: I wish I had more time. I made myself like this that there is nothing that I do not enjoy. I make sure I enjoy everything that I do, including simply sitting quietly or talking to somebody or doing whatever, because my activity is not limited to one area – so many things. If you do not enjoy everything that you do and do not do, you will go insane trying to manage so many things. But I’ll not go insane because I enjoy being alive. Any activity is okay. Everything I do, I enjoy. Small things, big things, every kind of thing. Most profound things and silly things, I enjoy thoroughly. [Both laugh]

Karan Johar: As should all of us. Lastly, in a biopic made on you, who would play you?

Sadhguru: But who would make a biopic, first of all?

Karan Johar: No, there would be lots of interested people.

Sadhguru: Maybe you should animate.

Karan Johar: I don’t think you would want that. [Laughs] Well, that is the end of the rapid fire and you totally deserve the hamper that doesn’t exist on this platform, but it’s a virtual hamper that I’m giving to you with my love, gratitude, and deepest amount of respect.